Neil Gorsuch testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his nomination to be an associate justice of the US Supreme Court during a hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC on March 22, 2017.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed Neil McGill Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, securing a lifetime appointment for the Colorado judge and a much-needed victory for President Donald Trump, who picked Gorsuch at the start of his tumultuous administration.

The 54-45 vote, overseen by Vice President Mike Pence, fulfills Trump’s promise to select a conservative jurist to fill the seat once held by the late Antonin Scalia and ensures that the nine-member court will maintain its rightward bent for the foreseeable future.

“This justice will ensure that the law protects our liberties,” U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said minutes before the vote. “This brilliant, honest, humble man is a judge’s judge, and he will make a superb justice.”

As planned, Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado voted with the Senate GOP majority to confirm Gorsuch, while Michael Bennet, his Democratic counterpart, opposed the appointment. Three Senate Democrats backed Gorsuch: Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

“To Judge Gorsuch and his family — congratulations,” said Gardner after the vote. “For the great state of Colorado, it’s an honor to have a fourth-generation Coloradan — a man of the West of grit and determination — join the nation’s high court.”

On Monday, Gorsuch is scheduled to meet with Chief Justice John Roberts at the Supreme Court for a private ceremony during which the Colorado native will be sworn in as the country’s 101st Associate Justice. Later that day, there will be a public event at the White House, where Gorsuch, 49, will take a judicial oath with Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Gorsuch is “looking forward to Monday” but knows he’s “got a lot of work to do,” said Michael Trent, a former classmate and lifelong friend. “I think immediately he’s got to jump in and start to read all the briefs and the cases that are coming before the courts in the next few weeks so he can be prepared to help the other justices make these decisions.”

Related Articles

The win, however, did not come without cost. To get Gorsuch through the Senate confirmation process, McConnell and other Republican leaders used a controversial parliamentary maneuver known as the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules and circumvent Democratic opposition.

The move lowered the bar so that Supreme Court nominees no longer need the support of 60 senators; rather they now can be confirmed with a simple majority in the 100-member chamber.

Combined with a similar use of the nuclear option by Democrats in 2013, the end result is that the future presidential nominees — from low-level political appointees to high-court aspirants — won’t be subject to a 60-vote filibuster.

“With these changes, justices may now be confirmed with the narrowest partisan majority,” said Bennet in a statement. “Allowing the judiciary to become a pure extension of our partisan politics is precisely the outcome our founders feared.”

But for Gorsuch and his supporters, Friday’s vote comes with a big sigh of relief.

It ends a grueling confirmation battle that began Jan. 31 when Trump announced Gorsuch as his pick in a prime-time address at the White House, describing him as “someone who respects our laws and is representative of our Constitution.”

Since then, the Colorado native has endured nine weeks of intense scrutiny, with journalists, lawmakers and legal experts combing through nearly every facet of Gorsuch’s life — from his college writings and religious beliefs to his decade on the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

At one point, two simple words dominated the headlines. In a private conversation with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Gorsuch described as “disheartening” and “demoralizing” the criticism Trump has levied against the judiciary. Blumenthal made public those comments, leading to a weeks-long debate about whether the statements confirmed Gorsuch would be independent of the president who appointed him to the high court.

The spotlight burned brightest last month when Gorsuch faced the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for three long days of testimony and questioning. There, he was drilled on his approach to abortion, campaign finance and judicial philosophy — often frustrating Democratic lawmakers by refusing to answer their questions in much detail.

“Do you view (Roe vs. Wade) as having super-precedent?” asked U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in one exchange that centered on the landmark 1973 abortion decision.

He responded: “It has been reaffirmed many times. I can say that.”

Gorsuch’s opinion of campaign-finance laws took on extra meaning as his candidacy for the high court was supported by a number of conservative groups, including the Judicial Crisis Network, which not only backed his nomination with millions of dollars in ads, but also helped sink the appointment of Judge Merrick Garland — the pick of President Barack Obama who was blocked last year by Senate Republicans from ever getting a hearing or a vote, noting that it was an election year.

“Justice Scalia’s legacy will continue on the Supreme Court,” said Carrie Severino of the Judicial Crisis Network.

Asked about the 2010 decision known as Citizens United, which opened the floodgates for political spending, Gorsuch said Congress had “ample room” to legislate new campaign rules under the ruling — although Democrats have countered that extra corporate and special-interest cash in politics has made the effort even more difficult.

“Since he will soon become the ninth justice of the court, I hope Judge Gorsuch has listened to our debate here in the Senate, particularly about our concerns about the Supreme Court increasingly drifting to becoming a more pro-corporate court that favors employers, corporations and special interests over working America,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Supreme Court officials expect to hold a formal investiture ceremony for Gorsuch in the coming weeks — an occasion that will represent a major milestone for Colorado and the Gorsuch family.

With his appointment, Gorsuch will become Colorado’s first justice since Byron White retired in 1993.

It also continues the public-service legacy first blazed by his mother, Anne Burford, a former state lawmaker who rose to become the head of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Ronald Reagan. His father, David, was a notable attorney. Both parents have passed.

“I think they’re looking down and smiling broadly,” said J.J. Gorsuch, Neil’s younger brother who lives in Denver. He added that the family was “very proud” of him and “excited to see him leave this (confirmation) process behind” but that it would be bittersweet to see him leave the state.

Mark K. Matthews is the Washington correspondent for The Denver Post. He’s covered Congress and the White House for a decade, first for the Orlando Sentinel and then for the Post. His past work includes two jailhouse murder confessions, investigations of the VA and NASA and a long, strange trip into the mudbogging world of Lake County, Fla.

More in National Politics

Russian officials had disdainful words Saturday for a U.S. indictment that charged 13 Russians with interfering in the 2016 presidential election. Children’s stories, the plot of a preposterous Hollywood movie and “just blabber” were a few of the glib analogies they pressed into service.

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Saturday there was “incontrovertible” evidence of a Russian plot to disrupt the 2016 U.S. election, a blunt statement that shows how significantly the new criminal charges leveled by an American investigator have upended the political debate over his inquiry.

As much of the country was gripped Wednesday by horrific images from the mass shooting at a Florida high school, two dozen senior Trump administration officials worked frantically into the night to thwart what they considered a different national security threat.